Over the past several years, Wisconsin Public Television has formed a network of public television (PTV), university and private partners via the Collaborative Production and Reforging the Links projects. Designed to reestablish the natural, and mutually beneficial, relationships between PTV and educational organizations, Reforging the Links also explored the integration of new media and the development of new PTV business practices.

Expanding on the Reforging the Links project, WPT now embarks on a two-year initiative to evolve and expand the Reforging the Links ideas into practice, developing and modeling new public services. Evolving the Links will explore, develop and disseminate new PTV services. These services will be driven by a national network of PTV stations and research universities with the goals of engaging in R&D, providing multimedia training, pursuing the study and sharing of best digital practices, and modeling convergence projects. The initiative will focus on four areas (three research and one management):

• interactive and enhanced television;

• media asset management;

• Internet2; and

• reporting and modeling results.

I. Interactive and Enhanced Television
WPT and UW-Extension are using WebTV technology to create interactive programming that connects PTV viewers to additional university content. These interactive links can be designed to add information to linear narrative and designed as “portals” to educational resources and to partnering community organizations. Given our experimentation with ITV, and relationship with Microsoft, WPT has just been designated as one of only three WebTV training sites nationwide.

II. Media Asset Management
WPT is using Virage and Mediasite software to explore the scaleability of video and indexing search tools for various purposes and in stations of varying size. As more video is digitally encoded and made available to multiple audiences on an “on-demand” basis, there is a growing need for expertise in video asset management. The newly created “Co-lab” at the University of Wisconsin offers WPT a unique opportunity to integrate video indexing into the larger context of learning object management. The UW Extension IDEAS portal is designed to offer resources to PK-12 teachers. Our unique relationship with UW Extension and the Educational Communications Board offers us the opportunity to experiment with indexing and streaming PK-12 video to the classroom.

III. Internet2
WPT and the UW-Extension Broadcasting and Media Innovations program are using Internet2 to experiment with, and demonstrate, the use of Internet2 protocol to deliver broadcast quality programming for preview, production and broadcast to university-licensed PTV stations. We will help stations prepare for an environment in which broadband becomes the distribution vehicle for PTV services.

IV. Reporting and Modeling Results
To help stations develop coherent plans and incorporate the above strategies into PTV business practices, we will report and model results through workshops, demonstrations, Web sites, CD-Roms and DVDs.

Project goals include:

• Realigning station resources across PTV organizations to support new media activities and reposition PTV stations as public service media.

• Building and strengthening public service media partnerships, particularly those between PTV stations and universities.

• Developing systemic training programs for PTV staff in new media, including interactive television, portal technology, media asset management technology, Internet2, distance education, and DVD.

• Exploring the feasibility for local station provision of new public services.

• Enhancing service to current audiences and building new audiences.